My name is Jim Rosenbeck. I live with my wife, Debbie Kerr Rosenbeck at 13 Lewis Avenue in the city. Nine candidates are running for Batavia City Council at Large this Fall. You will be electing three of those candidates to serve on City Council.
I am running as an independent candidate with the endorsement of the Genesee County Libertarian Party (gclpny.org) to which I belong. The Libertarians are also endorsing Lisa Whitehead for City Council at Large. She is a good person and I enthusiastically support her candidacy.
However, you won't find Lisa's name and my name together on any yard signs or on any campaign material. That is because we are different people with unique strengths and abilities. We don't have the same view on every issue and we won't try to convince you to vote for us because we represent some inherently superior political party. In fact, I am convinced that big government run by Libertarians would be just as corrupt and wasteful as big government run by republicans and democrats. I will be voting for the person not the party. Voting for three names on a placard scares me. I am not willing to accept that any one party has cornered the market on good candidates. It is too simplistic a view. I personally know many of the individuals running for City Council. Some of them are my friends. What I don't buy is party line politics. That idea is too old, worn out and fraught with poor results.
The courage and conviction of Council candidate Rosemary Christian who stepped outside the safety of party politics and entered this election as an independent is admirable. She might agree with me that the debate is no longer about republican values vs. democrat values That debate is a tired old exercise. Frankly, I have a difficult time telling the difference between the two big parties at times.
As a result, I no longer participate in the red state/blue state faux debate. I don't support the faux wars on terror, the faux war on drugs or the faux war on poverty that are all filled with rhetoric and tax dollars but fall short on results. The real debate is between those who support big, authoritarian government vs. those who support liberty and personal responsibility. This is true at the state and national level, and locally as well.
There are nine candidates asking for your vote. It doesn't matter what team we say we are on. We owe you more than the willingness to wave a team flag. We need to tell you our vision and listen to your concerns. To that end, I am in the process of walking every street in Batavia to meet as many city residents as possible. My promise to you is one of transparency and trust. We need to move away from party politics and elect people with a vision and a willingness to lead. You can read the specifics of my vision by visiting the Facebook link below. Every position I take on an issue is and will be clearly communicated. My position doesn't change to fit the audience. I welcome the opportunity to discuss any local issues with you. To find out more about my candidacy please contact me at rosenbeck4batavia@gmail.com or by phone at 585.356.8623. Follow my campaign at www.facebook.com/Rosenbeck4Batavia. I ask for your vote in November.
Sincerely,
Jim Rosenbeck
Candidate for City Council at Large
Well put Jim. The questions a
Well put Jim. The questions a Batavia voter need to ask themselves are Do I want my city's government to control more aspects of my life or less? Do I want my taxes to go up or down? Does party affiliation really mean all that much here in Batavia? Do I want people on my city council who actually think through the consequence of actions and willingly seek citizens' input? Or should I vote in reactionaries? The choices should be pretty clear once you answer those.